EPO to End “10-Day Rule”

EPO to End “10-Day Rule”

Under the current versions of Rules 126 and 127 EPC, communications/documents are deemed to have been notified to the recipient on the tenth day following the date of the document (regardless of how they are transmitted – electronically or by postal services). Many...
DECISION IN THE EBA PLAUSIBILITY REFERRAL (G2/21)

DECISION IN THE EBA PLAUSIBILITY REFERRAL (G2/21)

The guidance is: in support of inventive step, yes, post-filed data can be used, if it relates to the same invention as disclosed in the original application. Summary of the Decision In summary, in support of inventive step in a claim in a European patent: • yes,...
Daybreak at last! The UPC start date is confirmed

Daybreak at last! The UPC start date is confirmed

We reported in our article of December 2022 that the start date of the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) had been delayed yet again, this time in view of some difficulties many users were having with acquiring the authentication devices required to access the UPC’s Case...
Gold Standard for Novelty of Subranges

Gold Standard for Novelty of Subranges

Background Historically (pre-2019), a subrange was considered novel over the prior art if the following criteria were met (T198/84 and T279/89): a) The selected subrange is narrower than the known range; b) The selected subrange is sufficiently far removed from any...